Tweaking Windows XP

Hello everyone!!!

I just want to share a cool site for tweaking windows XP ( www.tweakhound.com )..

I've followed the instructions given and it really improved the performance of my XP machine..

Looks like a really good site at first glance. Will bookmark it for further research!

Looks like a really good site at first glance. Will bookmark it for further research!

Hi Dalight, did you manage to investigate this any further? I've an old laptop that I bought through work years ago that runs so slow I turn it on, then go and make a cup of tea. By the time I get back it has just about got to the logon prompt :shock: I could do with something that will speed it up a bit.

Cheers

Rockape

First thing I normally recommend with machines that have been running XP for a while is to upgrade to 512MB if they haven't got that much already. If that isn't possible then you may have to get your hands dirty. If you don't fancy doing a clean install you will have to try the following:

1. Examine all the programs that run at startup. Sometimes you find some programs that try to access the internet (for both legit and illegitimate reasons thereby slowing down the startup process)
2. I've found some HP printer monitor programs slowing down the startup because the printer is turned off or not connected.
3. Try defragging the hard disk (especially if you haven't got a lot of space left)

First thing I normally recommend with machines that have been running XP for a while is to upgrade to 512MB if they haven't got that much already. If that isn't possible then you may have to get your hands dirty. If you don't fancy doing a clean install you will have to try the following:

1. Examine all the programs that run at startup. Sometimes you find some programs that try to access the internet (for both legit and illegitimate reasons thereby slowing down the startup process)
2. I've found some HP printer monitor programs slowing down the startup because the printer is turned off or not connected.
3. Try defragging the hard disk (especially if you haven't got a lot of space left)

Thanks for that. I usually defrag the machine at least once a month (if I remember ) I friend recommended a piece of software call regdoc which I use on my other machines, so I might run it on that laptop. It's a great piece of software which checks your registry for old files, and stuff that's been left after uninstalls etc. Basically, it cleans your registry file for you, and makes the machine a bit more stable.

Cheers

Rockape